


new connections

by azumarheart



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Feelings, Fix-It, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Lesbian Character, Queer Character, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Love, prevention of the apocalypse!, siblings bonding over their queerness!, some nice happy content for y’all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 02:56:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19984915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azumarheart/pseuds/azumarheart
Summary: Klaus finds a certain sibling of his in a certain type of bar. Cue queer bonding between Vanya and Klaus.Also, turns out that when Five isn’t busy stressing about the impending apocalypse, he’s pretty good at communicating.





	new connections

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a lighthearted short fic about my gay kids but ended up with a bit of plot heh oops
> 
> I honestly don’t like the second half of this but maybe you guys will lol. 
> 
> Anyways I’m obsessed with The Umbrella Academy and I have another looong fic I’m working on for it :) okay bye please leave a comment if you like!

Klaus is drunk. Which isn’t an unusual occurrence, but for once, he isn’t crossfaded. Last week he nearly overdosed on a bad batch of pills, and it was... scary. He woke up, feeling like he was being stabbed by needles all over his body. A headache so bad that it took him 3 minutes to adjust to the light, and a scary stutter in his heart. Klaus is no stranger to overdoses. But every time prior, he woke up to metal paddles sparking his skin in the back of an ambulance. It was the first time he got that close to death, without the possibility of help coming. 

Klaus can’t trust his family or his dealers (or Peter from rehab- the one who always steals his eyeliner and lipstick and refuses to cough it up), but he can always trust the red flashing lights and blaring sirens to pick him back up. Scoop his scrappy bony body up and tether him a little closer to Earth. Nick (the usual paramedic who picks him up) never looks at him with pity. Klaus hates pity. Instead, Nick gives him a high five for a job well done, and smiles so prettily and god damn why did he have to be straight. 

So. Klaus decided to quit the hard shit, because honestly? He doesn’t want to die. As much as his self-destructive tendencies might imply that he’s suicidal; he’s really not. He likes being alive, loves the rush from a good hit, loves giggling and cheers-ing Twinkies with Melissa (who sleeps in the alleyway on Lakeford Street). He loves when dirty men grip his hair on the edge of almost-painful, loves the way married men trail their eyes over his exposed stomach when he walks around in crop tops. 

And that’s what leads Klaus to the gay bar ‘Peach Ring’, right off Columbia Avenue: a block away from the concert hall and a good 15 minute walk from Dear Old Dad’s House of Horrors. If he’s going off the hard drugs, he needs a bit of alcohol and maybe a good fuck to keep his mind off them. A little weed couldn’t hurt either. 

So Klaus is drunk, sitting on a barstool, and scoping out the place for a muscled hunk to dick him down for the night. Unfortunately, the crowd is filled with more twinky and lanky boys like himself. He sighs and pouts, sipping from a bright pink drink with peach ring gummies at the bottom (the bar’s signature drink after its namesake). Klaus loves all men, obviously, but he definitely prefers the hunks. He lifts his head to look around some more and-

Holy shit.

Um.

Is that?

Klaus blinks, then blinks again. Rubs his eyes. Mentally recounts how long it’s been since he doped up and. Nope. He isn’t hallucinating.

Sitting at the opposite end of the bar, is Vanya Hargreeves. Number Seven. His little sister, who he hasn’t seen in at least 5 years, whose book kind of hurt his heart a bit (a lot), who used to kiss Klaus’s scraped knees and make him origami flowers when he got back from his traumatic training as a preteen. 

The one who use to stare with a confused look at pictures of men and women kissing (a look Klaus would mirror), who gave Klaus a soft (but so, so bright) smile when he would wear Allison’s skirt, a complete difference from his other judgmental siblings. The one who blushed a little too hard when Allison would grab her hand to tug her along and... oooooohhh. Makes sense now.

So Vanya. In a gay bar.

She’s sitting nervously, eyes flickering around to the people around her, but never lingering long enough to make eye contact. Her slender fingers trace the condensation along the side of her glass, then move down to pick repetitively at the napkin it sits on. Vanya’s wearing a soft gray sweater over a collared white shirt, sleeves pulled down to her knuckles, and her hair is softly parted over her slightly hunched shoulders. A girl to her left, in a short skirt and tight tank top, shifts a bit while talking to another woman and presses against Vanya’s arm for a moment. Her head jerks up, and she stares at the point of contact, cheeks flushing along with the tips of her ears. 

She’s adorable and adorably shy and Klaus smacks his own face for being so blind. His gaydar was usually extremely accurate. Maybe Vanya just flew so low under the radar when they were young, he didn’t notice. 

He notices now, and changes his plans for the night. Cross out getting dicked down (well... maybe just push it back a few hours). New mission: get Vanya a girl.

He downs the rest of his drink, and eats the gummies at the bottom, before slipping from his seat. He slides into the stool next to Vanya, leaning sideways on the counter with one elbow in order to face her. 

“Heyyy sis!” he chirps out. 

Vanya flinches, and twists to him with her shoulders raised and tense. Her face goes pale, eyes wide, and hands twitchy.

“K-Klaus!? Um.. uh... wh-“ she sputters out, before squeaking a bit. She turns back to face forward, and covers her face for a moment, before turning back. She’s a bit less pale, and blood seems to be rushing to her face even quicker now. 

“Why are you here? I’m just- I’m...” Vanya still can’t seem to get the words out, and Klaus decides to spare her. 

“So little ol’ me just happened to be sitting down at the bar, looking around for a big burly man to take me home for the night. When suddenly, I happen to see my little sister sitting across the way!”

“Oh. Um, well that’s great. I’m just here for a drink, haha, um. Just walked into the first bar I saw,” Vanya says, tension sharp around her eyes. She was always bad at lying.

“Van, there’s no need to lie to me. I’m as gay as they come, there’s no judgement here. I think it’s wonderful that we’re the queer kids of the UA. Just another ‘fuck you!’ to dear old dad,” Klaus exclaims. Vanya looks up nervously, before seeing that Klaus isn’t going to judge her. She laughs a little at his joke.

“Alright. Yeah I’m a lesbian. Raging. But I’m pretty sure I can’t disappoint dad anymore than I have so...” she trails off.

“Samesies!” 

Vanya smiles wryly up at him and he snorts in response.

“Okay so you’re here to get a lady right? A Juliet to your Juliet? A Rose to your Jack-queline? Minus the iceberg and sinking ship. An Ellen to your Portia? A-“

“Alright, alright Klaus I get it. Yeah, I wouldn’t mind finding a girl.”

“Wonderful! It is now my mission, as the captain of the USS Queer Kids, to find you a woman. So what’s your type? Butch? Soft and delicate? Tall? Short? Blonde? Nerdy? Ripped?” Klaus shoots out the questions, and Vanya shakes her head in fond exasperation.

“Klaus you don’t need to help me find a girl. You’re just wasting your time. Go have fun, and just say no to drugs,” she replies, with a bit of sarcasm. 

Klaus can’t even be annoyed, because Vanya has never been sarcastic. He likes the change.

“Oh, but my dear sister, I won’t be able to rest until I find you a lady! My poor queer heart just can’t take seeing you alone. It would be a crime to abandon you in your time of need! I can practically hear Sappho chastising me from the beyond!” 

Vanya laughs hard at that joke, and Klaus smiles in satisfaction. She finally looks back to him, wiping away a tear, before smiling softly.

“Fine Klaus. Have fun trying to find me a woman. It’ll be a feat.”

“It’ll be fun. I won’t let you down!”

They exchange numbers, Klaus using his crappy flip phone, and Vanya with a slightly nicer flip phone herself. 

“Haven’t sold your phone for money yet?” Vanya asks. It’s almost something Klaus takes offense for, but she seems genuinely curious.

“Nah, Go Diego Go gave me this one. Just in case I need help. Or reach absolutely rock bottom. Which is basically my home! I’ve had to call him a few times to bail me out of some rough situations,” Klaus says, getting serious for a moment. Vanya looks at him with a deep-rooted sadness, as they both drop the upbeat facade they’d been playing at. 

“How’ve you been doing Klaus? I’m sorry I haven’t tried to talk to you. I’ve been trying to sort my shit out.” 

Klaus laughs a little, unable to help the bitterness that comes out.

“Yeah, writing your tell-all tale right?”

Vanya looks guilty, so guilty, so pained, so sad.

“I’m sorry Klaus, I really am. I wish that I didn’t need to expose everyone’s personal stuff. But I was bursting inside. I tried to keep everyone’s business out of it but I couldn’t. My skin itched with the need to get it all out. The only way I was even able to muster up the courage to send my draft in was by getting drunk as hell. But I don’t regret it. Even if I fucked up what delicate relationships I had with you all, it was worth it to me. I wouldn’t have been able to go on much longer keeping it all in.” Vanya smiles sadly.

“I was about ready to end it all.”

The admission strikes Klaus hard. His little sister wanted to kill herself. He always knew his family was fucked to the core, but never expected Vanya to go that route.

“I’m doing better now. Much better. Therapy and all that shit. I figured I’d try to reclaim more of my life and freedom and find a girlfriend or whatever.”

“Vanya... I had no clue. I’m sorry.” 

“Hey, no need to apologize. I’m doing good now. And it’s not like I was there for you either. But... I will be now.” Her smile grows larger, and Klaus matches it.

“Same for me. I don’t need another dead sibling haunting me,” Klaus laughs, looking at Ben to his right. Ben rolls his eyes, but Klaus knows it’s a fond look. Probably. 

“Ben? Does he really stay with you?” Vanya asks, looking around Klaus, as if Ben would suddenly become visible.

“Yep. All the time. Never goes away, not even with my usual vices! Like a clingy kitten,” he muses. Ben shoots him another unamused look. Klaus is pretty sure he’s laughing on the inside.

“Oh. Well then. Hi Ben. I miss you,” Vanya says, trying to look where Klaus had been looking. Ben smiles softly, and responds, which Klaus repeats.

“He says he misses you too. And he likes your sweater. And... thanks for the book?” Klaus scrunches his eyebrows in confusion, and looks to Vanya for an explanation.

Her eyes fill with tears suddenly, and she ducks her head to wipe them away. After clearing her throat, she raises back up.

“The day of his funeral, I snuck his favorite book into the coffin. Dad noticed and yelled at me. Something about ‘preserving the body’, what a fucking weirdo. I put it in Ben’s room instead.”

“Oh. Benny boy, is that what’s you’re reading all the time?” Klaus asks. Ben smiles, before pulling the book out. It almost appears from nowhere. 

“Yes! That one!” Klaus says, and Vanya squints.

“He... has the book? How? It’s not corporeal.”

“I dunno, he kinda just pulls it out of thin air. Sometimes ghosts have important mementoes they keep with them. I guess this is Ben’s,” Klaus shrugs in response. 

It obviously means at lot to the both of them. Ben stares longingly at his sister, and Vanya stares right back. Well, a little to the left of his eyes, but it’s the thought that counts right? 

“Love you Ben.”

“He says he loves you too.”

———

The two part ways for the night, with a well-overdue hug, and a promise to keep in contact. 

Klaus... might pickpocket Vanya’s pills from her. What? He needs them more than her. Probably. 

A week later, Klaus meets a nice, quiet, and cute girl at a bookstore. She doesn’t kick him out, regardless of his blown-out pupils and worn out clothes. She lets him sit in an armchair in the corner, and comes out with a cup of warm tea. She pulls a sweater from the homemade clothing donations bin sitting at the front of the store, and helps him put it on. She’s wearing overalls, the material worn soft from use. He spies a lesbian flag pin on the strap and smiles into his drink.

Her name is Eleanor and she’s perfect for Vanya, Klaus decides. When he leaves (with a few bucks and prepackaged snacks from Eleanor), he goes with the intent to call Vanya and tell her about the girl he found. 

Instead, he gets mugged, and his phone stolen. He sits in the damp alleyway, and hugs his new sweater closer to his body. 

Fuck. He has no way of contacting Vanya now. If she needs him, she won’t be able to reach him. He gets momentously sad for a few minutes, before deciding it’s all okay. Why would Vanya contact him anyways? He’s a huge fuckup. 

He plans to us those last few bucks from Eleanor to go buy the good shit from his dealer.

But on his way, he passes a shop window, and sees the news that Reginald passed away.

Daddy Dearest is dead!!? Did Klaus actually die for real? Is he in heaven now?

———

Vanya sticks close to Klaus when they get back to the academy. They’re sitting on the couch, waiting for Allison to come down so they can start the family meeting, and Klaus walks over to sit next to her.

“Van, I regret to inform you, that my phone was in fact, stolen from me,” he starts off. She snorts in response.

“Ironic. Right after you talked about never losing it.” 

“Hey! I didn’t lose it. I was mugged.” 

“Wait are you talking about the phone I gave you? Dude, you need to tell me when that happens so I can get you a new one.”

“Ah, but DiDi, I have no idea where you live! And since your usual haunts of crime scenes in the middle of the night aren’t the easiest to find, I couldn’t let you know,” Klaus responds. Diego pauses before his lips twist into a reluctant agreement.

“Okay yeah. Good point. I’ll give you my address I guess.” 

“Thanks amigo! But anyways Vanya, I found someone for you to date, and I expect to be your maid of honor please and thank you very much,” Klaus says, turning sideways to put his legs in her lap. She smiles fondly in response. 

Luther looks at his siblings like they’re crazy at the implication that they actually socialize with each other. Before he can speak, Allison makes her way into the room.

Luther lightly accuses them of homicide, which makes everyone scatter, and they only meet up again to dump Reginald’s ashes. And there’s fighting and it’s so dumb and so normal for them. Best. Funeral. Ever!

Then of course, little number five falls out of the fucking sky as his 13 year old self. Just another day in the Hargreeves household!

They sit around the table and watch as Five moves around the kitchen with practiced ease. He talks about the future briefly, and is about to walk out, when he pauses.

“I don’t really want to share with you all, because your tiny brains probably won’t comprehend, and you’ll bombard me with far too many questions. But basically the apocalypse happened. That’s where I ended up. I spent 45 years alone. Until the Commission hired me. They’re an organization that can manipulate time and space to make sure events happen as they’re supposed to.”

“I’ve been working my entire life to get back to you guys and stop the apocalypse. I just figured out the equation needed to return, obviously.”

Everyone stares at him, blinking as they try to understand what Five was telling them. He sighs and gives them a few moments to mull that information over before continuing. 

“A few days ago, the Commission, had a code 41287-L with a key player in the apocalypse plan. They’ve been scrambling since. In their haste, I managed to sneak in and find who that person is,” Five smirks. 

“A code 41287-L? What’s that mean?” Luther asks. Five snorts, and turns to Vanya.

“Derailment of the timeline due to an unplanned coming out. L stands for lesbian. Key players mentioned were, guess who? Klaus and Vanya. Congrats Vanya, you’ve managed to postpone the apocalypse for a long long time until they find out how to put it back on track.”

Vanya’s eyes widen and she turns to look at Klaus. He matches her expression, before bursting out into laughter. Bending in half, he continues to cackle, before grabbing her hand. He raises it up, while she stares in silence.

“All hail our mighty lesbian queen, saving us from the apocalypse simply by being gay!”

Klaus continues to laugh, and Five joins in as well. 

“In all the years I spent in the apocalypse, I could have never guessed that you coming out would change the world. Go figure.”

Vanya’s face flushes hard, but she smiles a bit. Allison starts to grin a bit as well. Luther and Diego are still blinking, trying to process, but eventually Diego gives Vanya a side smile. 

“Wait so does that mean Vanya would have caused the apocalypse?” Luther asks. The humorous mood is broken, and everyone stares at Five for confirmation.

“Well. Unfortunately yes. I’m not sure how,” Five responds. Vanya looks pale, before turning to Klaus in distress. 

“Wait, wait. I cause the apocalypse?! But how? I don’t have powers or anything? Do I accidentally kill someone? How does me being gay play into that? I-what? Five I don’t understand?” she says, growing more nervous as her mind runs rampant. Her anxiety is kicking up and she reaches in her bag for her pills.

“Vanya. Van. What are you looking for?” Klaus asks, trying to calm her hands.

“My pills, I need my pills. Where are they, I need to calm down,” Vanya says frantically, digging through her backpack. Klaus cringes to himself, and Ben facepalms. So maybe he shouldn’t have stolen her pills...

Around them, the wind starts to whistle, and the room shakes. Plates clatter against each other on the shelves, and papers pinned to the wall flutter. 

“Is-is Vanya doing this?” Allison guesses, grabbing onto the table to keep her balance. Five looks at the frantic girl with an analytical look, and nods. 

“I think so. If this was an earthquake, there wouldn’t be wind. Seems that strong emotions trigger her. Allison, you need to calm her down.” 

Allison shakes her head, even as she looks helplessly at Klaus failing to calm Vanya.

“Five I-I can’t. I don’t rumor people anymore,” she stutters out. Five looks at her incredulously.

“I don’t care what your reasoning is Allison. If you don’t rumor her, this whole house is gonna collapse.”

As if to prove his point, a lightbulb shatters, and a dishrag whips through the air. Allison takes a deep breath and steels herself.

“I heard a rumor... that you calmed down.”

Vanya inhales and holds it for a moment, before exhaling. The house stops rattling, and the wind settles down. Vanya shakes her head to snap herself out of her daze and looks around.

“W-what? I have powers? Huh? I’m... I’m so sorry,” she says, with confusion coating her words. Klaus places a hand on her shoulder.

“Sorry? That was awesome Van!”

Luther gives a stern look, before turning to Vanya. 

“Awesome? That was incredibly dangerous! We could’ve been killed! There must’ve been a reason dad hid this from you,” he exclaims.

“Oh shut up Luther,” Ben sighs, slumping into the chair he sat in. Everyone’s heads snap to where Ben sits, and their eyes widen once again.

“Ben?!” Diego exclaims. Everyone else’s mouths gape open at the sight of their dead brother, suddenly visible.

“Huh? Wait you guys can see me?” Ben asks, looking to Klaus for a explanation.

Klaus looks at his siblings reactions, just as confused as them.

“Oh this is weird. I guess it has been a bit since I doped up. That explains the crying man in the corner. Ha! Cool then, now you all know I wasn’t lying about seeing Benny-boo all the time!” 

Ben looks over and smiles at Klaus.

“Your hands are glowing dude. You’re powers must be stronger because you’re sober,” Ben says. 

Before anything else can be said, Ben blinks out of sight. The siblings, minus Klaus, look around desperately, but Ben is gone. 

“Aw damn, I guess I need to practice more. Or stay off the drugs... which isn’t likely,” Klaus laughs. He gets some disapproving looks, but counters them by standing and clapping his hands.

“Alrighty then, so since the whole Scooby Gang is here, let’s go on a trip! We can change a chat about papa dearest’s death, Vanya’s new powers, and why my hands just lit up the color of a blue Jolly Rancher! What do you say, Griddy’s like the good old days? Donuts till we puke? I’ll make a couple innuendos with an eclair, Luther will give me his disapproving look, Diego will probably eat his donut with only a knife...” Klaus trails off as the brothers mentioned give him unamused looks.

“Sounds good by me. I’d kill for some coffee right now. Just let me change and I’ll drive,” Five says in a matter of fact way, before turning on his heel and heading to his room. 

Vanya turns to Klaus, and smiles her signature sheepish smile.

“Looks like the USS Queer Kids just saved the world and reunited the family.”

Klaus just laughs, and pulls her out of the room to go bond with their dysfunctional siblings.

(Somewhere on a side street downtown, a man walks, newly free from prison. Every step is purposeful, headed straight to the Umbrella Academy to pay them back for what he went through. In an unfortunate and freak occurrence, a car nearby rams into a fire hydrant. The metal hydrant shoots of from the sudden water pressure, and impacts the man, Harold Jenkins. He dies on scene. The Commission loses their shit.)

**Author's Note:**

> the commission is homophobic but the umbrella academy kids said lesbian rights! the power of the gays prevents the apocalypse heheheh k bye 
> 
> P.S. vanya totally dates eleanor and everyone stops being emotionally stunted lol


End file.
